War Story
by EveryPennyCounts
Summary: Alfred was caught while fighting for his country. Natalia was caught while running away from hers.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- Hiya! Sorry for the short first chapter, but it does function as more of a prologue than an actual chapter. This is my first AmeBel fanfic and my second attempt at a fanfiction altogether (my first one failed miserably), so feedback would be appreciated! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Hetalia, Belarus, and America belong to Hidekaz Himaruya. Story belongs to me. (This might be one of the first stories in this AU (if my schedule permits me), as I would really love to expand it.)**

 **Chapter 1**

Alfred studied his target through the scope of his gun then rested his finger on the trigger. He adjusted his position slightly to angle the shot better as he took a deep breath in, and he pulled back the trigger as he released the air in his lungs. He didn't stop to see if he hit his mark. He never did. He never paused to watch the bullet pierce the head of his enemy, never watched the lifeless body crumble to the ground, and he certainly never watched the soldiers next to the now dead body get gunned down in their haste to tend to their friend. He always just moved on to the next target.

That's how it was every time: breath in, shoot, breath out, and move on. That was always how he worked as a soldier. Even when he wasn't a soldier, he never let himself linger on death. Heroes don't poison themselves with depressing thoughts, especially when they're about death. Heroes only do what they have to and stay positive through it all. Alfred wanted to be the hero of his people, so he did what he had to, and anyone you ask could tell you that he stayed positive.

Alfred shook himself out of his thoughts and once again took aim. Breath in, shoot, breath out, and footsteps. He froze. The sound of footsteps froze with him. Alfred mentally cursed himself. Forget what heroes _do_ , what heroes _don't_ do is forget to move positions after every few shots and give away their position. He slowly picked himself up into a sitting position and pulled out his loaded pistol.

"Drop the gun and turn around."

"I don't think that would be a very good idea on my part," he replied in his most confident voice.

"There are more than twenty people surrounding you right now, so it sounds like a pretty good idea to me," the voice countered. Alfred paused, trying to remember how many sets of footsteps he heard. He couldn't remember. At the time it had sounded like the whole army.

"How 'bout we just pinky promise not to shoot each other and move on?"

"I SAID DROP THE GUN AND TURN AROUND!"

Alfred flinched at the outburst. Fine, he thought, I'll do half of that. Without any further thinking, he whipped around and shot the soldier behind him square in the head. Only after he accomplished that did he realize his plan didn't extend any farther. So he continued to do what he did best- act without thinking.

There turned out to be only six other enemies, which let Alfred take advantage of the shocked stillness and take out two more. But his victory was short lived, because the four remaining soldiers quickly came to their senses and trained their guns on him. Alfred didn't slow down though. He even managed to shoot down another soldier before a bullet scraped his shoulder. Alfred stumbled back and hissed through his teeth. He tried to raise up his gun again, but found that he couldn't. One of the soldiers noticed this and ran forward to ram the butt of his gun into Alfred's head. The hard hit caused him to lose his balance and fall onto his side, cracking his head onto the ground and breaking his glasses. He lay there, too weak from blood loss to move. The feet of the three remaining soldiers swam in and out of vision in front of him.

"What will we do with him?" one panted through a thick accent. Alfred blinked, trying to clear his mind. Why did this one have an accent if the other one didn't? That would mean the first speaker had to have been a traitor. Alfred grit his teeth. _A filthy traitor_.

A different accented voice answered the first one, "This one killed many of our comrades. He should suffer. Also, imagine what we could make our enemies do if we held their best sniper captive."

The third soldier responded this time, "We should put him with the other pieces of scum we cannot be bothered to kill."

The other two murmured in agreement, and Alfred barely had time to process what they were saying before one of them yanked him upwards by his bad arm. He tried to suppress his scream of pain, but he didn't stand a chance against the agony that seemed to spread throughout his body- pain so terrible that he welcomed the blackout that came with it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **A/N-** ** _vostok_** **is (hopefully) the Russian word for 'east'. I use that work for the eastern country in my AU, and I will just use** ** _West_** **for the western country. Please do not get West confused with Germany's nickname ;-;**

It was a scream that jerked Natalia out of sleep. But, she noted, this screaming was different than usual. It was different than the pleading sobs and the terrified shrieks. She might have even called it yelling- _angry_ yelling. Natalia grunted in annoyance and rolled over on the threadbare mat the soldiers called a bed. It was just another miserable prisoner to deal with, so she decided not to waste her time on him. Or, she hoped she wouldn't have to, but she learned long ago that hoping was waste of time. And unsurprisingly, she was right not to hope, as the door to the other cell in her section slammed open with near enough force to crack the cold, stone walls. The man she presumed to be the yeller from before was half thrown into the small cell, and the cell doors slammed close, but as soon as he hit the floor, he shot back up and rammed his right side against the bars. The guard who brought him scowled and tried to hit the man through the bars, but he ducked just in time. Natalia almost wished he had got hit.

"YOU CAN'T KEEP THE HERO LOCKED UP FOREVER YOU VOSTOK SCUM!" he shouted from his place on the hard floor. Natalia grit her teeth. He was foolishly brave to insult her country in a place like this, but the country hardly felt like _hers_ anymore. That thought angered her more than the insult did.

The man had too much energy to just sit there, so he pulled himself up to his feet and started pacing. Judging by his mutters, he was planning a way to escape. Natalia noted at least twenty ways his plan could go wrong, but she didn't say anything. She had no intentions of giving her presence away before she needed to. She was hidden pretty well and she wasn't surprised he hadn't noticed her yet, crouched in the corner as she was and probably filthy enough to blend in with the stone pressed against her back.

The man had blond hair and blue eyes hidden behind broken glasses lenses. He was well built, and she wondered how a single soldier had managed to keep him under control all the way down the corridor, but her question was answered when she saw the blood-soaked bandages applied sloppily to his left shoulder. He was just young enough to still be the annoyingly resilient soldier he was, and Natalia found herself unsurprised. It was always the young and rash ones that found their way into this dreary prison. His spirit would diminish soon enough, but she still hoped she didn't get stuck with him in this split cell for too long. Natalia scowled, she was hoping again.

The scowl must have been enough to get his attention, because at the slight motion, his head whipped towards her, scanning her side of the cell block. Quick as lightning, she wiped all signs of emotion from her face. His eyes widened when he finally saw her.

Alfred took in the sight of her in pure awe. She looked like an angel, or at least she would have if her petite features weren't marred with filth or emaciated with hunger and if her long, platinum blond hair wasn't tangled and matted around her face.

"Uh… Hi, how ya doing… um… My name is Alfred… What's yours?" he stuttered in obvious surprise at her presence. Natalia simply turned her back on him. She didn't have the patience to deal with talkative neighbors.

"Oh! You're not very talkative. No problem! I`ll talk so you don't have to," Alfred chirped and flopped down onto his 'bed.' "I'm here because I got caught while sniping. Pretty dumb, huh? Not very heroic of me at all," he continued with a sad laugh, "Well, it's not like I'll be here for long!" he paused then chuckled nervously, "You won't tell anyone about my plan will you?" Natalia continued her staring contest with the wall and didn't respond. "Cool, I'm taking that as a no!"

Natalia scowled, but didn't let Alfred see it. She wasn't about to let the annoying Western know his words affected her.

"Anyway, I was taken down by a Vostok gang. Can you believe it! They weren't even all that sneaky, and I got half of them before they got me! Vostoks aren't that great at anything really, so I won't be here for much longer!" Alfred smiled cheerfully, but Natalia's scowl deepened. _How dare he insult her country_.

"And you wanna know what's even worse!" Natalia bit her tongue to keep from responding, "Their leader was a filthy traitor! I got him first though, 'cause he really deserved it-,"

"SHUT UP!" Natalia winced at her own outburst and clamped her mouth down so hard she bit her tongue again.

"Whoa… sorry. I didn't mean to-," Alfred stopped mid sentence and paused. "Why do you have a Vostok accent?" He asked. Natalia could feel his glared on her back. Alfred exclaimed,"Don't tell me you're a traitor! I don't care what country, if you fight against your own people you're-," Natalia turned to face him, not caring that he could see the murder in her eyes.

"I would never betray my country or betray my brother," she spat. Alfred's angry expression grew confused, but as he opened his mouth to speak a guard slammed his gun into the cell bars with a crash.

"No fighting. You don't want to lose your only outside time. Now, get up and obey or you'll pay," the guard ordered. Natalia turned her glower away from Alfred and tried to stand quickly and gracefully, but she stumbled on her weak legs and caught herself on the wall. She scowled at the ground before straightening up and walking slowly out the door the guard opened for her. Alfred watched her back as she rounded the corner out of sight with the other prisoners. He was snapped out of his daze by the guard slamming his gun on the cell bars again. Alfred picked himself up, wincing when his shoulder throbbed, and walked through his own cell door and down the corridor with the few other lagging prisoners.

Among them was an old man. Well, thought Alfred, as long as I'm here, I can still be the hero! He pushed past some other prisoners who grumbled at him as he passed until he got to where the old man was attempting to hobble along and stopped him. "Would you like some help, sir?" he asked with a smile. The old man blinked at him for a minute before nodding and lifting his hand up to Alfred's shoulder for support. Alfred was perfectly fine with the delay, especially since it gave him an excuse to go slow so he could look for escape routes. Alfred heard the guard growl with impatience behind him and smiled, he would get out of here, no problem.

 **Thanks to everyone who's showed support so far! I really appreciate it!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm terribly sorry for the wait and the kind of short chapter ;-;**

 **Chapter 3**

The sunlight was blinding after the dim lighting inside the prison building. As Alfred stepped out into the courtyard, the man who had been clinging onto his shoulder hobbled over to the side of the prison wall and gingerly sat himself down. The soldiers placed around the wall didn't pay the man any notice, but the guard behind Alfred gave him a sharp jab with his gun. "Don't stop moving."

The man muttered quietly but slowly pulled himself to his feet and hobbled over to join the sluggishly moving circle of prisoners walking around the courtyard. Alfred sighed and giving the guard a look, walked over to the old man and offered his shoulder again. The man glanced sideways at Alfred cautiously before taking his shoulder and continuing his uneven shuffle.

While heavy fortifications lined the walls of the prison, Alfred was not discouraged in the slightest. He searched the surrounding walls for an escape route, but came up with little that was helpful, so he instead looked around at the other prisoners. He was going to need some helpers along the way, of course.

It didn't take long for him to zero in on Natalia, as she had a wide birth of empty space around her and she walked along with a prideful grace that contrasted the detected shuffle of the surrounding prisoners. See, Natalia had gained a reputation in the prison. She was seen as cruel and heartless, and by that point, they weren't entirely wrong. This reputation had caused some rumors to circulate that she was a Vostok spy here to stamp out their spirits once in for all. She never tried to stop the rumors, as they kept the other prisoners away from her, but even if she did try to stop them, it would be doubtful that she would succeed, for there was a guard that she often had conversations with as he circled the courtyard to keep prisoners in line. The brown haired, green eyed guard in question finally caught up with Natalia in line.

"H-hi Natalia. Nice day isn't it?"

"Just tell me the latest news already, Toris."

Toris gulped and glanced around nervously, "The West's best sniper was taken out. That's all I've heard."

Natalia scowled, "We will never win at this pace."

Toris shifted his gaze back to Natalia, "Are you sure you don't want me to tell your brother that you're still alive?"

Natalia glared daggers at him, "Ivan is busy enough. Me leaving was good, because now he can concentrate on the war. And in staying here I can gather information for Brother. Now leave my sight, I've nothing new for you."

Toris gulped and slowed his pace so Natalia was soon far ahead of him. Alfred watched this entire exchange with interest. Eventually he caught up with Toris and, despite the old man next to him, tried to talk to him.

"Howdy there!"

Toris glanced at Alfred with worry, "I don't talk to the prisoners."

"You talked to Nat."

Toris looked bewildered for a moment, but finally he seemed to understand who Alfred was talking about. "Err… She's… an exception."

"Really!? I knew there was something odd about her!"

"No! I just… knew her… before all this," Toris stuttered nervously.

"Hmf. Alright," Alfred responded, but he wasn't paying any attention to the guard anymore. He stared at Natalia with a mixture of suspicion and wonder. Who exactly was she?

Toris meanwhile found Alfred's sudden disinterest a blessing and slipped away to the wall of the courtyard. He watched Alfred as the prisoners were forced back inside the building and wondered how he knew who Natalia was. He sighed with worry. This couldn't mean anything good.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hallo! I am indeed still alive and writing. I'm sorry for the wait, but I had exams and such, so I couldn't find the time. But I'm back now, so no worries!**

 **Chapter 4**

Alfred stumbled into his cell and the guard slammed the door shut behind him.

"Dude, there is literally no need for that. You're just being rude."

Instead of engaging the Western, the soldier walked back to guard his end of the hallway.

"Ugh, rude," Alfred muttered. He turned around to search the other cell and found that Natalia was sitting upright in the center of the space.

"Hi again, Nat!" Alfred chirped at seeing her. He was going to become friends with this interesting woman no matter how hard it was.

Natalia stared at him coldly for a second before responding, "You do realize you're talkative to a fault and no one, including me, wants to converse with you."

Alfred chuckled and sat down. "And you're very funny, Nat. My brother always wanted to talk with me, but maybe he was just lonely. He had a small dog, though, so he couldn't have been _that_ lonely." He paused for a second. "I miss my brother to be honest. We didn't hang out much but he was always nice to be around." He made a little sigh, "We both got drafted, you know? I haven't seen him in a year, but I got word that he was a spy now. It's a perfect job for him really, because he's always in the background. Hmm, that's probably why I never really hung out with him."

Natalia listened to him ramble on with little interest. He really had no idea when he wasn't wanted, not even when he was told outright. She began absentmindedly combing the dirt out of her tangled hair as she thought.

"Hey, do you want me to help you?"

Natalia started and pulled on her hair painfully. She focused her angry gaze back onto Alfred and asked, "What in this cursed world could _you_ possibly help me with?"

Alfred laughed, "Your hair, duh. There's so much of it and it would be bad if it stayed all tangled right? So… can I help?"

Natalia looked him right in the eye. He didn't seem to contain any questionable motives, heck, he was as innocent as a puppy, but the last thing she was going to do was let him touch her, or even just help her with anything. She deadpanned, "No."

Alfred pouted, "Oh, alright, but if you need help with something just ask. A hero can't let his damsel in distress down, after all!"

Natalia glared at him and spat, "I am not some maiden in need of saving, and I'm certainly not _yours_. If you dare call me anything close to that again I will find a way to reach through those bars and snap your neck."

Alfred blinked at her for a second before bursting out laughing, "Alright, alright. I won't do it again. You really are funny Nat." Natalia rolled her eyes and let out disgusted sigh. There was nothing she could do to stop this insufferable man.

"Oh!" he continued, "This reminds me of the time I kept hitting my brother with a baseball until he flipped out like you just did!"

Natalia turned her back to the separating bars and tried her best to zone Alfred out. She had almost completed her task when she realized something. If she were to listen to what he said all the time, she could pick up on outside information and give it to Toris. Natalia grimaced at the thought, but she tuned back into Alfred's ramblings in search of anything that might help her brother win this war.

* * *

The days continued like this for weeks: They would wake up, Alfred would find something to talk about, they would go outside, Natalia and Toris would trade information (which was never much), then they would go back inside and Alfred would once again talk Natalia's ears off until they both fell asleep. Despite the horribly repetitive schedule, Alfred never seemed to tire or run out of stories to tell.

"You should have seen Artie's face when I just walked up pulling his car behind me! I honestly thought he would explode. Oh, and-,"

"That's not possible," Natalia interrupted, "None of it is. How could you possibly have so many stories to tell? You can't have lived only about twenty years and have that much to talk about." She had grown tired of his copious stories the first day she forced herself to listen. Or, at least, that's what she kept telling herself. Alfred could see how intrigued she really was by his tales. Her head tilted slightly to the side and when she had her face turned towards him he could see a glimmer in her eyes. She always absently combed her hair and slowly inched closer to the separating bars whether she noticed or not.

So he smiled brightly and said, "You didn't have a very fun childhood, did you? My childhood was so much fun. I always got such interesting experiences from hanging out with my brother and my cousins."

Natalia looked at him with venom. "My childhood was beautiful. I had both my brother and my sister to play with."

"Really?" Alfred perked up with excitement, "Could you tell me a story? Don't tell anyone this, but I've always wanted to know what Vostok is like."

Natalia's venomous look melted off her face and she whipped her head towards the opposite wall to hide her shock. She couldn't tell anyone anything about her childhood, especially not him. Her story would cause him to stop talking to her, maybe even to hate her. She couldn't afford that, as his information, despite how little he had, was precious.

She kept quiet for a second longer to calm herself and answered, "No, I will not. My childhood is mine, and I will not share it with the likes of you."

Alfred frowned. "Oh, alright."

He looked over at Natalia's back. What had happened to her?


End file.
